MRT SPORTS SPECIAL REPORT: Awareness picking up in sports beyond football

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Hope Barnett knew something was wrong.

But, she also wanted to continue playing after being hit in the side of the head by a hard kicked ball during a Midland High girls soccer practice last fall.

Barnett, who will be a junior soccer player at Midland High this coming school year, tried to play but then she said everything was really blurry, the sun was brighter than normal and added she was "pretty dizzy."

Barnett said she never fell down or was knocked out, but she knew she had a concussion, she just didn't know how severe, and as a soccer player, she wanted to stay on the field and continue to play with a new coach leading the team to try to make an impression.

Shortly after Barnett was hit, though, she came out of practice, and when her mother picked her up after practice, it didn't take long for her mother to see there was something wrong as well.

"My mom said, 'We need to take you to (MHS trainer) Hondo (Schneider) now,' and we got his number somehow and he was actually at a volleyball game, and we drove to Midland High," Barnett said. "He did the concussion test on me, and I found out I had one. It wasn't a major concussion, but it was still a concussion."

Barnett is not alone in suffering a concussion on the soccer field.

In fact, outside of football, girls soccer is one of the sports that has the highest rates of incidences of concussions.

In a story published on bloomberg.com from earlier this month, a survey revealed that women suffered more concussions than men in college sports such as soccer and basketball. Even this season, at least four players on the Lee and Midland High girls soccer teams missed time with concussions, and one didn't play the rest of the season after suffering a concussion halfway through the season.

It's a trend that has certainly gained attention, especially among girls high school soccer coaches, and one that the more information they see the better for them and the players.

"You know it's crazy, and scary having little girls growing up and they want to play soccer," said former Lee soccer coach Brian Pollard. "It's just kind of one of those things, and it seems like it's soccer specifically. Some of it's falling on the ground, and having nothing on your head to help you."

But concussions are not just limited to soccer, though.

As awareness about concussions have become commonplace across the sports spectrum, sports that weren't normally known for having high rates of concussions are showing greater awareness.

Much of it comes from coaches and cheerleading sponsors having to go through the University Interscholastic League's mandatory training to help them identify the symptoms each year, along with new tools to help trainers and coaches.

RockHounds trainer Justin Whitehouse said he has an application on his smart phone that can help with diagnosing a concussion.

"We are just more aware of it now, and everybody's sense of that is heightened now," Lee softball coach Wes Overton said. "And not only coaches and players, but parents and everybody are wanting to check them out. All the NFL stuff coming out ... everybody is more aware to say, 'Let's get this checked out.'"

Overton, and veteran Midland High baseball coach Barry Russell, said they haven't seen a high rate of concussions in their sports, but they've seen them happen, and they say they are handled much differently now than even a decade ago.

Russell cited two instances with players at Midland High that missed time because of concussions. Both happened in completely different plays in different games, but for him it was the awareness that helped diagnose them easier and give the players a chance to heal.

"We are trained to be more aware of it, and we'd never even had to think about it before," Russell said. "Our trainers are always with us, and there is a benefit to that."

Even in cheerleading it's become a topic as well. Greenwood High School cheerleading sponsor Becky Hanna said they will have to go through the same UIL training as coaches will this year before the fall.

Hanna said there can be concussions in cheerleading because some squads may push the boundaries on stunts, and to have that training and awareness only will help the cheerleaders.

"It's always about safety because it is dangerous when you are using your body to lift someone else in the air, and the awkward positions you find yourself in," Hanna said. "The older my (daughters) have gotten I'm more conscientious about that, and watching my brothers play football as well. I definitely see how much different. It was overlooked when my brothers were playing, and now it's definitely send them straight to the trainer immediately."

Barnett said she felt the training staff at Midland High did everything right in helping her return to the field, saying she underwent an initial test the day it happened, and also filled out paperwork every day to see where she was at on a cognitive level.

For Barnett, though, and like a lot of players the hard part was simply sitting out with no visible injury. As a competitor, Barnett wanted to be out there, and it was hard sitting out while her teammates worked out and played in games.

"You just have to sit there, and you feel a little anger or something because you don't get to do anything," Barnett said. "I wanted to be back."

Barnett said it took nearly three weeks for her to be cleared to play again, and even when she returned she was still a little leery of hitting her head or even heading a ball.

But the length of time is something that not only players are getting used to but coaches and parents as well. As more is learned about concussions, it's given those involved in sports the chance to know that time could be the best thing.

But all the coaches talked for this story, said while players can have a hard time realizing they need time to heel, the parents have been receptive the awareness about concussions.

"The hardest thing about concussions is the symptoms are so difficult to handle," Whitehouse said. "If you sprain an ankle, and after five days the ankle is still sprained you can't play. If you get a concussion, five or six days later, you feel better and think, 'I may as well go out and play,' but the underlying danger is still there."